Trump: DeSantis campaign a 'terrible experience' for staffers

Former President Trump on Tuesday ripped 2024 GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis over recent high-level personnel departures and claimed staffers were having a “terrible experience” working for the Florida governor’s national campaign.

“The Ron DeSanctimonious ‘team’ of misfits and grifters has largely quit his campaign to go on to greener pastures,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “It has been a terrible experience for them as they have watched their candidate fall violently from the sky like a wounded bird.”

Trump’s attack comes after a tumultuous weekend for DeSantis’s campaign. A Washington Post report detailed chaos in DeSantis’s super PAC, Never Back Down.

Hours later, top strategist Jeff Roe departed from the campaign, writing on X, formerly Twitter, “I cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down (NBD) given the statements in the Washington Post today. They are not true and an unwanted distraction at a critical time for Governor DeSantis.”

Trump hit DeSantis for Roe’s departure in his Tuesday statement.

“Jeff Roe, his ‘chief strategist’ and head of his PAC, ‘Always Back Down,’ after having done major surgery on Ron’s wallet, couldn’t get out of town fast enough,” Trump said. “Now Jeff can spend full time in Texas working with Ted Cruz, formerly known as Lyin’ Ted, who is working hard to get back the magic they had together in 2016!”

DeSantis has seen stagnant poll numbers in recent weeks, especially as he struggles to keep his second-place spot in the GOP primary with Nikki Haley rising in popularity.

In Decision Desk HQ’s national polling average for the GOP primary, Trump leads at 64.8 percent, followed by DeSantis’s 11.3 percent support and Haley’s 10.7 percent.

The Hill has reached out to DeSantis’s campaign for comment.